Starter for engines



Dec. 15, 1936. A. H. ABELL STARTER FOR ENGINES Original Filed Aug. 31, 1931 INVENTOR 9 3; BY ma QM Fig. 5.

. ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 15, 1936 STARTER FOR ENGINES Arthur H. Abell, New York, N.- Y

-Refiled for abandoned application Serial No.

560,326, August .31, 1931. This application April 7, 1936,'Serial No. 73,170.

3 Claims. (01. 74-9) This application is a. refile of abandoned application Ser. No. 560,326 and the within disclosed invention relates to improvements in starting gear for internal combustion engines. It relates specifically to a driving member, mounted on the shaft of an electric motor, which effects a driving engagement, due to the inertia of one of its parts at the moment the electric motor starts, said part being moved out of engagement by means of a spring the moment the engine starts to run by its own power.

One object of my improvement is to avoid failures in engagement due to friction between the part which, due to its inertia, tends to remain stationary and the part which urges it into engagement with the engine; as the inertia must be a greater force then the turning effort due to friction between the two parts, or the latter will turn the former without causing it to engage with the engine; My object is, therefore, to employ a construction having a minimum of friction, which will be increased to a negligible degree by foreign particles, or the extreme viscosity of lubricants due to low temperatures.

Another object'is to absorb the shockof engagement by so constructing the spring employed for that purpose that it provides the-maximum softness of action attainable with a spring of a given dimension. l

A further object is to employ an integral part of said spring as a key for transmitting torque from the starting motor shaft to the spring.

A further object is to reduce to a minimum the tooth pressure between the driving pinionand the engine gear, the moment the engine starts to run on its own power, to permit the use of a light disengaging spring which resists to a minimum degree the engagement cf'the driving pinion with the engine gear, due to the inertia of the pinion member.

- These objects are attained by the mechanism illustrated by the accompanying drawing, in which-' Fig. 1 is a plan view;

Fig. 2 is a right end view; 1 v v Fig. 3 is a sectional side View taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a sectional end view taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3; and a Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic development of the car n formed on one of the members. 1

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The starting-motor l is attached to a stationary part of the internal combustion engine, of which starting the engine; j

2 is a gear attached to therotary member of the engine.:.-The pinion-member 3 is mounted ,on .the starting-motor. shaft 4', on which it isjfree to turn and also to-s1ide.- :The cam-drum 5 is also free to. turn and slide=on theshaft 4.3 The spiral 5 spring 6 isinterpose'd betweenthe shaft 4 and the cam-drum 5. The helical: spring-.1, enclosed in the annular space "between the. pinion-member 3 and the shaft 4, abuts at one'end onv theshoulder V 8 of the shaft 4 and at-the otherend on the bot- 1 tom of the hole in the pinion member3.

, The collar 9' is clamped on the shaft 4 by means of the bolt! and nut H,:u'nder which a spring lockwasher-IZ. A half. sleeve-il-3,.formed onthe collar 9, is shown insection in Fig;4-. It I constitutesza" curved :wedge, inserted betweenthe starting-motorshaft 4 and the inner? convolution of the spiral spring 6,'which"causes the bent-in end 14 of the spring to stay "in engagement with the curved slotiiorkey-way. Win the shaft-4. 2 The spring end fl, is, in effect; akey, formed as an integral. part of' the spiral spring: 6, for 'trans mitting torque from the-shaftl14 to the cam drum5, towhich the outer endtoffthe springis attached by theengagement of the benteout end I6, of the spring 6;with a'slot lliin the camdrum 5. The inner-endof the spiral spring 6 abuts against the collar 9.

a On one end of: the pinion-member 3" are chamfered gear teeth l8 and'on the otherend are two radial lugsl9-l'9,- diametrically opposite each other. On the cam drum 5 are formed two dia: metrically opposite' and similar cams 20--20, which engage with thellugs. Ill-49 when the starting-motor operates, but are. not incontact with them whenit-is, at rest The clearance between the lugs and thecam surfaces is determined by the length of, the coil spring I, when extended. The-cams 2020 are helical and when developed on a-plane surface have a uniform or'straight- 40 line pitch, as shown by- Fig.l5.;- Theouter ends of thecams terminate in" abutments 21 -.z which drive. the ,pinionmember 3 l' 'QSitively through its lugs Ill-49, immediately after its gearteeth l8 are fully in mesh withfthe engine gear2, thereby Ifjdesired a single cam may be employed instead of the double carnj'described. and shown.

The engagement of the gear teeth IS with the engine gear 2, is due to the inertia'of the former, asin other starter drives of the well-known inertia typepin which a 'scre'w or a cam is employed. In my improved form of drive, the disengagement is caused by a spring, acting independently of the cam which causes the driving engagement. When the engine starts to run on its own power the peripheral speed of the engine gear is suddenly increased beyond the speed at which, up to that moment, it had been driven by the starting motor I. Consequently the pinion member 3 is driven by the engine gear 2 at a higher speed then than that of the starting motor I and heavy tooth-pressures betweenethe gear and pinion are relieved, as the pinion member is free to turn idly on the shaft of the starting motor l moving the lugs |9| 9 away from the abut-,

ments 2 |-2l at the outer ends of the cams 202lll At that moment the gear friction is negligible and a light coil spring 1 suflices to slide the pinion teeth |8 out of engagement with the "engine gear 2. The lighter the spring, the greater islthe preponderance of the inertia of the pinionfmeme, her 3 over the force required (at the moment'the starting motor l moves from rest at the beginning of the cycle) to compress the spring 1 sumciently to slide the pinion member 3 into engagement with the engine gear 2. A very small force is required to compress the light coil spring 1 to that degree (a small proportion of its length) and the engagement is, therefore positive. That force, however, is ample to hold the pinion member 8 out of engagement with the engine gear 2-, when the engine is running.

At the beginning of the starting cycle it is essential in order to ensure the preponderance of the force of inertia, to have a minimum amount of friction between the pinion member 8-and the rotating parts which come in contact with it. That is accomplished by providing two widely spaced short bearing surfaces at the ends of the pinion member 8, in which the shaft 40f the starting motor I, is free to rotate. Because of the small area of contact, with the parts-in the position shown, cold, viscous lubricants have but little tendency to cause the adhesion of the pinion member 3 to the shaft 4. The small contact area also offers little opportunity for foreign particles to increase the friction to a degree which would overcome the inertia of the pinion member 3. As the cams 2020 are not in contact with the trunnions l9-l9, there is no initialfriction between them. This contributes to the suretyof engagement due to inertia;

The wide spacing of the bearing surfaces avoids cramping or binding when thepinion member 3 is actuated by the cams 2020 andpermits of small bearing clearances. -The=pitch-circle of the pinion teeth I8 is thereby maintained and chattering is avoided when the pinion member 3 drives the engine gear 2.

As the inner end 14,01 the spiral spring 6, is bent in radially and formed to constitute a key for transmitting torque from the starting motor shaft 4 to the spring, the space which would be required by a collar or other means forattaching the spring to the'shaft is consented. This construction permits the use of themaximum number of convolutions in a spiral spring of a .given diameter, thereby attaining ample flexibilcam-drum 5 and a space 22 is provided to allow the cam drum to slide on the shaft 4.

Although a spring of any desired cross-section may be employed, one having its minor dimension transverse to the axis of rotation of the shaft 4 and the cam-member 5 is preferred to accomplish the desired relative degrees of cushioning effect when the cam-member is subjected first to the impact tending to slide it on the shaft and then to the impact tending to turn it on the shaft.

The latter impact being due to the positive driving engagement between the cam elements on the pinion-member 3 and the cam-member 5, it is desirable to provide a spring of such proportions that it is more flexible and permits a turning movement of greater amplitude in cushioning that impact than in yielding to the impact transmittedto the cam-member by the butt-end contact between the teeth on the pinion-member 3 and the gear 2 attached to the engine.

If desired, the space 22 may be increased and a coil-spring, surrounding the shaft 4, may be inserted to cushion the impact caused by the buttend contact of the gear teeth.

WhatI claim is:

1. A starter for engines comprising, in combination with an engine gear wheel, a motor driven shaft, a cam-member mounted on the shaft and free to turn and slide thereon, a spring with one end in driving engagement with the shaft and the other end in driving engagement with the cam-member, a sleeve also mounted on the shaft and free to' turn and slide thereon, lugs on the end of the sleeve adjacent to the cam-member,

gear teeth on the other end of the sleeve adapted to-slide into mesh with the engine gea -wheel, helical surfaces on the cam-member adapted to slide the sleeve on the shaft, thereby meshing its teeth with the engine gear-wheel, abutments at the outer ends of the helical surfaces adapted to make positive driving contact with the lugs on the sleeve and a spring adapted to act in opposition to the sliding motion imparted to the sleeve by the cam-member.

" 2. An engine starter comprising in combination with-an engine gear-wheel, a motor driven shaft',.a cam-member and a sleeve, both independently mounted on the shaft and free to turn and slide thereon and to rotate therewith, a spring attached at one end to the shaft and at its other end to the cam-member, coacting cam elements on the cam-member and the sleeve adapted to slide the sleeve on the shaft, gear teeth on the sleeve adapted to slide into driving engagement with the engine gear-wheel, abutments on the cam-member adapted to engage with and rotate the sleeve, thereby turning the engine gear-wheel,

and a spring, acting in opposition to the cam action, to disengage the gear teeth from the engine gear-wheel and hold them out of engagement when the rotation of the motor driven shaft .ceases.

3. In a starter for engines, the combination of a motor driven shaft, a radial slot in the shaft, a spiral spring having its inner end inserted in the slot, a collar secured to the shaft contiguous to the spring and a segmental portion of said collar, inserted between the shaft and the inner convolution of the spring, adapted to hold the inner end of the spring in engagement with the 

